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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894281">Mermen and Pirates do get along</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrDork/pseuds/MrDork'>MrDork</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Borderlands (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Merman Rhys, Not too angsty, Pirate AU, mermaid au, mostly good shit, self indulgent really but when are my fics not</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 06:15:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,656</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23894281</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrDork/pseuds/MrDork</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys lands into the water with grace and resurfaces looking up at Jack and then waving goodbye. Diving back under the water, Rhys turns his focus to swimming back to his reef. Realizing he forgot his satchel and tempted to turn around but, it was too late, the sun was setting and he'd been gone all day. Vaughn must be worried half to death by now, and Yvette surely will be mad with him. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Mermen and Pirates do get along</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Rhys cracks open an eye looking over at his best friend and clutch mate, Vaughn. The dark green mer is asleep. Rhys stifles a chuckle. Getting up from his seaweed bed he quietly grabs the satchel he had found in a shipwreck and quickly swims out the den. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon out of the city he swims north then up. He’s so close to the surface now. A shadow is cast over him by a large ship. He looks up at it. It’s huge. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bigger than any ship he’s seen so far. He curiously swims up to the surface but stops. He knows he shouldn’t and he could get hurt but it’s just a little peak. He surfaces, only half his face out of the water. He can barely see the deck, there’s a shout that startles him and he readies to dive back down but there’s a sharp pain in his tail and he’s getting dragged up.</span>
</p>
<p> <span>He’s gotten harpooned. Thrashing on for only a few seconds because it’s futile and it hurts. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>Switching to breathing in oxygen quickly, practically hyperventilating. Gills flapping and pulling air in. It burns at first.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Soon he’s hanging over the deck and the land dwellers are staring at him in awe. He hisses at them making them startle. Then there’s a new land dweller walking over, looking particularly angry. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s with all the noise!” He then spots Rhys. Rhys growls and hisses thrashing and trying to reach up to his tail. He needs to get away but he fucking can’t. “That’s a mer….AND YOU ALL FRIGGIN  HARPOONED IT?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Capn, we uh didn’t know it was a mer until we pulled it up, we don thought it was some large sea fish.” A short man with blue eyes stutters. The cap-catain? Sounds like he’s the alpha of the land dwellers pod then. The captain looks at the blue-eyed man before pulling out a metal object and it makes a bang and the blue-eyed man falls to the ground blood gushing from his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Let it down….What are you waiting for LET IT DOWN.” He snarls at the other land dwellers who quickly obey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rhys feels himself lurch down before he’s gentle lower down onto the deck. The rope connected to the harpoon in his tail is cut off and he takes this as his chance. He lunged forward, his arms pulling him up and pushing himself off and he grabs at whoever is closest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He ends up slamming into a girl that holds no importance to the story. Digging his claws into her eyes and face. She screams and someone tries to grab at him. He whips around lunging at them and clawing at their face and chest. People begin to back off as he hisses and growls. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The captain looks impressed. He flexes his tail yelping as it forces the harpoon farther through his tail. The captain looks at him with mismatched eyes, almost sad looking. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tranq it.” Then he feels a prickle in his shoulder. Suddenly he feels really tired. He tries to crawl back to the edge of the boat and climb off but he’s not even halfway till he’s asleep.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wakes up in water lying on soft sand. Was it just a bad dream? He sleepily turns over and sits up, when he sits up his upper body is hit with warm air and he fully wakes up. Snapping his eyes open and blinking. He looks around frantically. He’s in what looks like a den.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Like the ones in the shipwrecks, he finds but way more fanciful. The door to it opens and the captain steps in. “Oh, you're awake already!” Rhys looks at the land dwellers not able to understand so he opts for a look of confusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man seems to realize this and goes to his desk and fishes [no pun intended….okay pun was intended] around the desk and pulls out a small device he goes over to Rhys. Rhys hisses baring his teeth. The green and blue-eyed man doesn’t seem to care instead raises a brow and stands in front of Rhys. He seems to look him over. Their eyes meet and suddenly Rhys growling stops. He never noticed the dual coloured eyes of the land dweller. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a tight pull in his chest and for a second he feels like he’s floating. Then the man snaps out of his own trance and pushes the device into Rhys ear fin. The mer yelps at the suddenness of it and is about to lash out at the man. The man is messing with the thing in his ear fin so he fidgets his hands instead. Something buzzes in the Mers' ear before it clears up. Tilting his head in confusion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, cupcake.” The land dweller says with a grin. Rhys is startled. “Yeah, it’s translation technology, though you wouldn’t know about that huh?” Rhys trills out. He’s so excited he understands what the land dwellers say. “Hey kitten, I’m uh sorry about my crew shooting at you with a harpoon, I fixed you up as best I could.” Rhys then noticed how his tail is bandaged and doesn’t hurt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m Rhys.” Rhys clicks and trills but it comes out as words. So it’s a two-way translator. So he can understand the land speak and speak it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Reese?” The land dweller tries.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No it’s Rhys,” Rhys says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rhys? Cute name, I’m Handsome Jack but you can just call me Jack, Cupcake.” The land dweller, Jack, smiles at Rhys. Rhys trills, not knowing what the nickname was but liking it anyway. Vaughn will be absolutely horrified that Rhys is talking ugh a land dweller….shit Vaughn he forgot about his clutch mate. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shit! My clutch mate is gonna be so mad.” Rhys stutters out running a hand through his hair which has dried up. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Jack asks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He’s gonna freak when he finds out I was at the surface even more that I got harpooned and talked to a land dweller,” Rhys explains. “I should get going can you please return me to the water.” Rhys looks at Jack with pleading eyes. He heard stories that land dwellers took in mers only to treat them like monsters and show them off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack purses his lips. “Two things, one, you have to answer my questions and the second….you have to come back,” Jack says a gleam of amusement or something in his green and blue eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Oh um okay! What do you want to know,” Rhys says. He tilts his head at Jack placing himself so his elbows are leaning on the edge of the tank. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What happened to your arm? That’s all eridium right?” Jack peers at his right arm. It’s dark rock with bright purple running through it in a vein-like pattern. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My arm?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah! When I was little I got attacked by some land dwellers named Dahl or something-“ jacks face hardens. “They took my eye and arm and replaced it with fake ones, something about a siren?“ Rhys explains with a shrug. "I don't really remember what they said, so I wouldn't know but they let me go after a while."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack stares at Rhys' arm for a second anger in his eyes. He mouths ‘Dahl’ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can I go now?” Rhys asks. Jack looks at the mer snapping out his daze.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Yeah yeah just come back….meet at the shore near the big yellow house.” Rhys tilts his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like the unmoving land ships?” Jack chuckles and nods. “Yeah, I can do that! How about the evening tomorrow, that’s when I’m free.” Jack nods again. He suddenly lifts Rhys out the tank. The mer making a startled yelp. Jack starts to walk Rhys outside the sun on his scales now. He walks down to the edge of the ship and sets Rhys on it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> “Want me to get a crane to lower you down or-“ Rhys instead just turns around and slides off. “Or you can do that…” Jack huffs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rhys lands into the water with grace and resurfaces looking up at Jack and then waving goodbye. Diving back under the water, Rhys turns his focus to swimming back to his reef. Realizing he forgot his satchel and tempted to turn around but, it was too late, the sun was setting and he'd been gone all day. Vaughn must be worried half to death by now, and Yvette surely will be mad with him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>On the other hand, he'll see Jack tomorrow and hopefully, Jack will have kept his satchel. He follows the current back to his reef and the quick current along with him swimming very strongly the bandage around his tail starts to slip. He stops to peer at the damage.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His tail isn't bleeding anymore but the wound would leave a scar but unless he's on his back or someone is under him it's not -too- noticeable. He continues and then once he reaches the border of his pod's territory he spots to familiar blobs rushing up towards him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> It's Vaughn, the dark green mer wails and trills out as he tackles Rhys into the sand. Yvette's grey and creme tail sways as she slows and languidly floats over and wraps her arms around the two male mers before backing off. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Vaughn is trilling into Rhy's chest before backing off grabbing the dark coloured mers' shoulders and facing going from happy relief to anger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span> "WHERE WERE YOU! You could've gotten hurt! Or worse! I was so worried!" Vaughn yells. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I was ship watching I lost track of time m'sorry!" Rhys says looking down. He hated getting yelled at by Vaughn because Vaughn never yelled at him. "Well just say I made a new friend!" Rhys tries, Vaughn brightens and Yvette tilts her head showing some interest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yeah a new friend, who knows what type of trouble Rhys and Jack will get into.</span>
</p>
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